Face-Reading Technology

Since recent advancements have been made towards the creation of what Stephenson calls mediatronic paper, I thought it would also be worth referring to something Christopher from The Curious Incident... could have used....

Jerz's Literacy Weblog (Online & Offline Literacy Links; Dennis G. Jerz)

People with autism spectrum disorders have a hard time determining others' emotions or even whether someone is paying attention to them. The system is designed to provide that missing information.

Skin computation process

While the real technology of transferring data through skin contact isn't nearly as dramatic as that depicted in Stephenson's The Diamond Age, I thought a link to this story would interst some of you.

Adventures in the Skin Trade

The small transceiver fits comfortably in a shirt pocket and unlike previous systems does not require a direct connection to the skin. The prototype can communicate at 10Mbps with other transceivers on the body, for example, mediating transmission between an MP3 player and a headset, and Sakamoto says it will soon shrink to the size where it can be built-into cell phones and other devices. When connecting beyond the body, the electric field can travel through conductors and dialectrics at a distance ranging from centimeters to meters, depending on the level of conductivity.

Access to Recent EL150 Posts

I've added a new page, http://blogs.setonhill.edu/EL150.htm, which features links to recent postings by members of the EL150 class.

It doesn't filter out non-academic posts, or posts for different classes, but at least it simplifies things a bit.

The page doesn't update automatically, but it will update if anyone posts a comment either to the EL150 site or the NMJ site. (If you like, I can set it up so that the EL150 page will update everytime something changes on your blog.)

Love Books? Too Busy to Read?

Book-A-Minute Classics: To Build a Fire

Sometimes you need to build a fire to keep warm, but you can't, and you freeze to death.

Seeking some help (simplifying Trackbacks... maybe)

Can you help me out?

I'm trying to see whether I can simplify trackbacks, reducing the procedure to a simple click.

Can you tell me what happens? I'm hoping it will pop up a window that lets you post to your blog, while also creating a trackback that points here.

Here's hoping...

Change to Readings

While I said in class today that the readings for Friday would be on e-reserve, it turns out that those readings are illegible, so I've changed the syllabus, bumping up readings that I had originally scheduled for Monday.

The online syllabus has been modified to reflect the changes. For Friday, read the essays by Cantor and Dabydeen for Friday; both are also available online, through the course web page. (You also have other homework due... check the syllabus.)

I will either have the e-reserve articles rescanned, or on Friday I will distribute photocopies of those articles.

Jack London links on Metafilter

I just came across a nifty collection of Jack London links on Metafilter.

All About Jack London | Metafilter

Jack London
was a prolific writer best known for White Fang, The Call of the Wild and The Sea Wolf. However, he also wrote about his experiences as a hobo, a socialist and a journalist. While most biographies portray his life as vibrant and engaged, his legacy and arguable suicide has some troublesome baggage.

Amusing allusion to Flannery O'Connor on The Onion

The Onion | Infograph (will expire in a few weeks)